In 2008, Parenting.com readers responded to our exclusive collection of unique, international names by bucking the national trends. Of more than 3,000,000 Baby Names searches on our site, surprise hits mingled with beloved standbys in our top 100 most popular Baby Names.

A few lyrical, oddball names on our list may require their own pronunciation keys. Wmffre (variation of Humphrey, German, peaceful, pronounced OOM-fre) was our blue ribbon winner on the boys' names list. Endearing Eithne (Irish, fairy, pronounced ITH-nee) came in 9th place on the girls' list.

Keep an eye on Bella (Latin, beautiful), rising up at 33rd place. The name of the Twilight vampire series's heroine could make some climb up even further in 2009. Britney Spears made a comeback this year -- and so did her younger son's baby name. Jayden (Hebrew, God has heard) made 3rd place on the boys' side. And despite the kerfuffle with her Vanity Fair photo shoot, smiley Miley (American, short for Milo or Miles) has still got some juice at #39. And 50th place boy's name Leighton (English, from the meadow) is a new mover whose popularity we can probably attribute to Gossip Girl Queen Bee Leighton Meester.

Our president-elect's first name, the strong Barack (Hebrew, lightning bolt), made the top 100, landing at a respectable #28. Classic girl's name Sarah (Hebrew, princess) continued to charm parents at #26, but the unique names of Governor Palin's children (Bristol, Track, Willow, Piper and Trig) did not. Though it didn't make our most popular list, we did see a bump in search traffic to the name Rahm (Hebrew, short for Abraham) after the appointment of Obama's new chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel.

Predictions for 2009:

Twilight fans raise Edward (English, prosperous guardian) from the dead -- or at least catapult the tortured hero's name into the top 100.

In light of the rough times, names like Hope (English, faith, wishing), Faith (English, belief), and other uplifting names will buoy new parents' spirits.